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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

"A ‘true price’ is forthcoming when a person receives, as counter-value for the product he has made, sufficient to enable him to satisfy the whole of his needs, including of course the needs of his dependants, until he will again have completed a like product." Rudolf Steiner, 29 July 1922

As I start reading on associative economics it seems that the biggest problem facing anyone trying to implement this would be how the idea of true price interfaces with the real market. For example, if I bake a loaf of bread my true price would be substantially higher than for a bakery producing lots of loaves. In a perfect market my loaf will not sell because cheaper ones are available.

For associative economics to work there would have to be a disruption of the market through people placing a value on the community aspects of trade and production. At this point i am unsure how that could be achieved.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

With my current phone coming up for three years old I have started the process of looking for a replacement. Although I am attracted to some aspects of the iPhone and I own an iPad I have been an Android user since the launch of the Google G1. If Apple are going to persuade Android users to switch to the iPhone they will need to address a number of issues.

Sound quality.

The audio quality from my HTC Desire HD, when plugged into an external amplifier, is significantly better than my iPad. I have heard that the iPhone 5 has made some improvements to this, but I have seen tests that show the audio output levels as being low for driving an amp leading to increased distortion when you have to turn it up to full.

In addition,not here does not seem to be any way of implementing a system wide graphic equaliser, as there is with the Android AnEq app.

Application interoperability

When I open a link in an email to a Facebook page my Android phone gives me a choice of opening this in my web browser or the Facebook app. The iPad forces this to be opened in the web browser - which is slower and uses more data.

This is an example of how iOS prevents applications communicating with each other.

Lack of alternative input devices

There is no predictive keyboard and it doesn't seem possible to use alternatives like Swiftkey.

Screen size

Although the iPhone 5 has a longer screen it is still narrow and oddly proportioned compared to its Android competitors. This presents problems with its use for Satnav in the car. I am not sure if there is even a turn by turn navigation system available for iPhone which can compete with Google Navigation at a reasonable cost.

It is interesting that as I start looking for a phone the HTC One is about £100 less than the iPhone 5, but if obtained as part of a contract over two years the iPhone works put cheaper. This may be how Apple is securing its market share.